Rag-tearing machine and fiber-opener and the like.



A. SNOWDEN.

BAG TBABING MACHINE AND FIBER OPENER AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1913.

1,081,783. Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

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COLUMBIA PLANDORAPN 120.. WASIHNLITON, n1 1:v

:l STATES ATENT @FFICE.

ARCHIE SNOWDEN, OF BRADFORD, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO SNOWDEN FIBRE MACHINERY COMPANY LIMITED, 0]? LONDON, ENGLAND.

RAG-TEARING MACHINE AND FIBER-OPENER AND THE LIKE.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Anemia SNOWDEN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Bradford, Yorkshire, England, have invented certain new and useful Ini provements in Rag-Tearing Machines and Fiber-Openers and the like; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in rag tearing machines, cotton and other fiber openers and the like.

In machines of this description there is usually an apron or conveyor which feeds the material to fluted feed rollers. These fluted feed rollers hold the material with a tight grip and gradually feed it to a re volving swift having a number of teeth on its periphery the teeth tearing at the rags or fiber held by the rollers. The swift after tearing the rags or fiber carries the same around and throws it out to a certain extent to the back or front as required. It will be seen that the rags or fiber are only treated once in their passage through a machine. If it be desired to treat them further they are passed on from this machine to another and similar machine and so on until the required degree of fineness is obtained.

The main object of the present invention is a machine which is arranged to act on the rags or fiber two, three or more times before throwing the same out.

A machine for treating the material four times is shown diagrammatically in side elevation in the accompanying drawing.

In this machine there are arranged about the usual swift at suitable intervals horizontal or if desired slightly inclined endless aprons which are arranged so as to receive the fiber or rags as they are thrown off the swift. These aprons are forced to travel in such a direction as to lead the partially treated rags or fiber back to a further set of feed rollers arranged in proximity to the swift so that the rags are brought back to be treated again by the same swift before being thrown out of the machine. In the machine shown in the drawing the material is returned three times to the swift for further treatment. As shown in the drawing the swift 2 is provided with teeth 3 and is Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 6, 1913.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

Serial No. 765,928.

rotated in suitable bearings 4 on the main frame 5 of the machine.

h 6 is a feed apron which runs over rollers l and S and conveys the material to the first set of feed rollers 9. These feed rollers 9 may be given any suitable form. They may be plain, fluted or provided with teeth. As is the case with previous rag openers these feed rollers act to feed forward the material and to hold it for the teeth 3 of the swift 2 to act on. The upper of the feed rollers 9 is pressed on to the lower one by means of the arm 10 which is fulcrumed on the main frame 5 at 11 and provided at its outer end with a weight 12. the arm 10 being provided with a suitable projection 13 which presses on the bearing (not shown) of the roller 9. The casing 14 of the machine conforms to the periphery of the swift from the feed roller 9 to a point somewhat short of the vertical diameter of the swift. At this point the casing is continued at a tangent to a point somewhat past the swift as at 15 and is then merged into an horizontal portion 16. At the back of the machine is a piece of cloth or textile material 17 ar ranged to act as a dust filter. In the space behind the swift 2 there is arranged a tie fleeting plate 18 which stretches right across the casing which is connected at its forward end to a short curved plate 19 which conforms to the periphery of the swift. At a point just beyond the plate 18 and somewhat above the same there is mounted a rotatable wind cage 20 which is mounted so as to be capable of rotation in any suitable form of spring hearing. Above the wind cage 20 there is arranged a bar 21 on the casing which carries a small depending flap 22 for preventing the passage of air between the top of the casing and the wind cage 20. Also near to the rear end of the deflecting plate 18 and slightly below the same there is mounted a rotating roller 23 which presses against the wind cage 20 so that the wind ca e 20 is rotated by its contact with this roller 23. The wind cage 20 and the roller 23 are arranged to receive any material which may fall on the deflecting plate 18. Below the rotatable wind cage 20 there is arranged a conveyor band 24 which is mounted on rollers 25 and is rotated in such a direction as to bring any material which may be on it back toward the swift 2.

26 are a second set of feed rollers which are arranged to receive the material forwarded by the conveyer 24.

27 is a small hinged flap mounted on a plate 19 to prevent the material from the conveyer 24 passing over the top of the two feed rollers 26. Below the conveyer band 24 there is arranged a second rotatable wind cage 28 also suitably mounted in spring bearings not shown. This rotating wind cage 28 is rotated by a positively rotated roller 29 which carries a conveyer belt 30 which also passes around suitable guides 31 and 32. A deflecting plate 33 is arranged to take the fiber from the swift and deposit it on the conveyer belt 30. This deflecting plate 33 carries a further curved plate 34 which carries a hinged plate 35, the lower end of which bears on the upper of the two of the third set of feed rollers 36. Below the wind cage 28 there is arranged a further conveyer band 37 which is carried by rollers 38 and fulfils a corresponding function to the conveyer band 24 above referred to. If desired at this point instead of the arrangement of the conveyer band 30 and guides 31 and 32 which could be dispensed with, the deflect-ing plate 33 may be given the same form as the deflecting plate 18 and extend up into close proximity to the wind cage 28 and the roller 29. Above the wind cage 28 there is arranged a suitable bar 39 which carries a flap 4O preventing the passage of wind between the top of the wind cage and the underside of the conveyer 28. Below the conveyer 37 there is arranged a further rotatable wind cage 41, a positively rotated roller 42, deflecting plate 43, curved plate 44, hinged. flap 45, a fourth set of feed rollers 46' and a further conveyer belt 47 carried by suitable rollers 48 which are arranged the one relatively to the others in the same manner as the wind cage 20 and roller 23 etcetera'. Somewhat below the bottom of the two feed rollers 46 there is arranged a deflecting plate 49 for deflecting the material which is thrown off the swift at this point into the chute 50.

51 is a suitably driven fan for causing a draft of air along the chute 50.

52 is a deflecting plate for stripping any material off the teeth 3 of the swift 2 to cause it to fall into the chute 50.

The different rollers 23, 29 and 42 and the sets of feed rollers 9, 26, 36 and 46 are all rotated by any suitable means as are the rollers 25, 38 and 48 and the conveyer belts 24, 37 and 47. The feed rollers 26 are preferably rotated at slightly greater speed than the feed rollers 9 the feed rollers 36 at a slightly greater speed than the feed rollers 26 and the feed rollers 46 at a slightly greater speed than the feed rollers 36.

The action of themachine is as follows: The rags or fibers to be opened or otherwise treated are placed upon the conveyer belt or traveling apron 6 and fed to the feed rollers 9. These feed rollers 9 grip the material very firmly and hold it to be acted on by the teeth 3 of the swift 2. The material is carried around by these teeth in the casing until the casing by its formation allows the material to be thrown off in the upper portion where the wind created by the rotation of the swift. will throw the material against the rotating wind cage 20. This rotating wind cage is rotated in a counter clockwise direction owing to its contact with the positively rotated roller 23. The material which is not thrown off the swift by centrifugal force will be picked off the same by the deflecting plate 18. The material which is not thrown against the rotating wind cage 20 will fall on the plate 18 and will gradually come between the rotating roller 23 and the wind cage 20 and be dropped down on to the conveyer belt 24; The wind which is set up by the swift before it reaches the deflect-V ing plate 18 will all pass through the wind cage 20 and out through the filter cloth 17 at the back of the machine. It will be obvious that owing to the arrangement of the flap 22 and the deflecting plate 18 the wind so caused cannot reach the material which is dropped on to the conveyer band 24. This material is fed forward to the second set of feed rollers 26 where it is again treated by the teeth of the swift 2 and again thrown off this time against the wind cage 28 and on to the traveling band 30 which latter be ing rotated by the rotating roller 29 causes the wind cage to rotate and so feeds forward the material and drops it on to the conveyer 37. Here the material is again brought forward to be gripped by the third set of feed rollers 36 after which it is again caught this time by the wind cage 41 and deflecting plate 43 and dropped on to the conveyer band 47 so as to be fed up to the fourth set of feed rollers 46. After this fourth treatment the material is again thrown off the swift and caught by the plate 49 and partially caught by the deflect-ing plate 52 so as to fall down into the chute 50 along which it is blown by means of the fan 51 which latter is operated from any suitable point. It will thus be seen that the material is treated four times in the one machine so that there is a great economy effected in time and in floor room together with a great economy in capital and outlay. If desired the last set of feed rollers 46 maybe arranged with Garnett wire so as to have somewhat of a combing effect on the fibers being treated. If desired the deflecting plates 18 and 42 could be dispensed with and a traveling band such as 30 with guide rollers such terial to be positively fed forward to the respective wind cage and positively rotated roller and at the same time because of a suitable arrangement of the guide 32 the belt will by its more or less horizontal travel tend to have a compacting effect on the material on the conveyer belt 27 so as to more effectively guide it up to the feed rollers 36.

I declare that what I claim is 1. In a machine of the character described a swift, a plurality of sets of feed rollers located about the swift, a plurality of stripping devices for said swift located behind each set of said plurality of sets of feed rollers, a plurality of conveying means located in front of each set of rollers, automatic means for transferring the material to each of said plurality of conveying means from said stripping means.

2. In a machine of the character described a swift, a conveyer, feed rollers located between said conveyer and said swift, a stripping device, a second conveyer located to receive material being treated from said stripping device, a second set of feed rollers located between said swift and said second conveyer and means for throwing the material being treated out of the machine.

3. In a machine of the character described in which the material to be treated is fed to a swift by feed rollers and held thereby to be acted on by the swift, the combination of a swift, a plurality of sets of feed rollers, means for stripping, the material off the swift after being fed to said swift by each set of said plurality of sets of feed rollers and means for returning the material for further treatment to each setof said plurality of sets of feed rollers after its passage from the preceding set of said plurality of sets of feed rollers.

t. In a machine of the character described, a swift, feed rollers, means for feeding material to be treated up to said feed rollers, a stripping device, a rotatable wind cage located in the path of the material being treated thrown off in the rotation of said swift and stripped from said swift by said stripping device, a second set of feed rollers for said swift, means for conveying material caught by said wind cage to said second set of feed rollers and means for throwing material out of the machine after treatment.

5. In a machine of the character described, a swift, a first set of feed rollers, a last set of feed rollers, intermediate sets of feed rollers all located in operative relation about the said swift, means for conveying the material to be treated to the first set of feed rollers, means for catching the material as it is thrown off the swift after passage past the first set of feed rollers, means for conveying this material to an intermediate set of feed rollers for further treatment by said swift, means for catching the material after its second treatment as it is thrown off the swift, means for conveying this material to a further set of feed rollers and means for throwing the material out of the machine.

6. In a machine of the character described, a swift, a set of feed rollers, means for feeding the material to be treated up to said set of feed rollers, a wind cage located in the path of the material as it is thrown off said swift by centrifugal force, a roller rotating against said wind cage, conveyer means for receiving material from said wind cage, a second set of feed rollers located at the end of said conveyer means and means for throwing the material out of the machine.

7 In a machine of the characterdescribed,

a swift, a set of feed rollers, means for feeding the material to be treated up to said feed rollers, a rotatable wind cage receiving the material thrown off by said swift after pass ing said feed rollers, a stripping plate, a roller located in proximity to said wind cage, a guide roller located close up to said stripping plate and a further guide roller located on about a level with the bottom edge of said roller, a conveyer belt arranged about said roller and about said guide rollers, a further set of feed rollers and means for conveying the material which passes between said wind cage and said conveyer belt up to said further set of feed rollers and means for throwing the material subsequently out of the machine.

8. In a machine of the character described, a swift 2, a plurality of sets of feed rollers 9, 26, 36 and 4G, a plurality of stripping plates 18, and 43, a plurality of wind cages 90, 2S and 41, a plurality of positively rotated rollers 23, 29 and 12, a plurality of conveyors 24, 37 and 47, a guide plate 49, a chute 50 and a fan 51 substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

' ARCHIE SNOWDEN. Witnesses:

ALAN E. \Vnmtnn, J. Mum MACALASTER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). c.

It is hereby certified that the assignee in Letters Patent No. 1,081,783, granted December 16, 1913, upon the application of Archie Snowden, of Bradford, England, for an improvement in Rag-Tearing Machines and Fiber-Openers and the Like, was erroneously described and specified as Snowden Fibre Machinery Company Limited, whereas said assignee should have been described and specified as Snowden Fibre ilflwhz'n/ing C ompany Limited, as shown by the records of assignments in this oiliee; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 20th day of January, A. D., 1914.

[SEAL] J. TI NEWTON,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

